More and more high profile persons are transitioning and they are showing that the world does not come to an end when an employee transitions. When a company takes a positive attitude with the transition of their employee, everyone benefits as when sports writer Christine Daniels transitioned. The latest company to do so is Microsoft.
Microsoft's sex change
Michael Wallent, a general manager at Microsoft, will return to work in January as Megan Wallent. He came out to colleagues as transgender last month, first in person and then by email. Wallent says he encountered nothing but support -- mixed, of course, with some awkward curiosity. That's unremarkable. Microsoft is located in the progressive Pacific Northwest, where one's less likely to raise an eyebrow at Wallent's self-discovery and more likely to worry about the politically correct term to describe it. (For the record, "sex change" is considered derogatory by many; the preferred word is "transitioning.") He's unlikely to encounter blatant transphobia on the job. He should worry instead about plain old-fashioned sexism. How will Wallent's developers react when they come to work on January 2 and it hits them: They're working for a girl?
How will Microsoft handle her transition? Only time will tell, but as the article points out only 100 of the 900 top executives at Microsoft are woman. That means that Megan will have more of a problem as a woman at Microsoft than being trans.
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